July 9th-13th Divorce and Remarriage

Contract is when two individuals make an agreement and covenant is a special kind of contract where a  superior sets terms and inferior accepts or doesn't. The word, covenant, is not a religious word and this was new to me since I have only heard it in church. When we make a temple covenant its with God and not our spouse. I have made a covenant with my Heavenly Father that I will cleave unto to my husband and support him throughout our life. I am so grateful for this covenant because it means more to me to have made the covenant with God who knows all and created me rather than making an agreement with man and just signing a piece of paper. I also find it important because with God anything is possible. We will have trials in life, in marriage and in family but when we know we can go to God and receive council we will be able to get through the hard times and become more like our Heavenly Father, which is our goal. I also know that having God at the front of it helps motivate me to be my best and to treat my husband as I should. I hope to be able to share more with those I know how and why my temple covenant means so much to me.

Parenting

Parenting is protecting and preparing God's children to survive and thrive. Parents have an important role to care and love God's children who were sent to us with love. Parents are not perfect but are striving to learn line upon line what is best for each child and their family as a whole. Sometimes we experience things while raising our children so help us step back and re-evaluate how we talk, teach and show our children love and compassion. We have to understand that we as parents may do things that we regret, but if we can learn early then we will be much happier and forgiving of ourselves. 

One student made the comment that sometimes we think the game is over when it's not. She continued to say that we need to recognize that we will play the role of mother or father forever and need to continue to comprehend that we can make differences in our children lives. As we continue to watch our children grow it's important to recognize each child's strengths instead of weaknesses. We may have children that stray away from the teachings of christ but we need to have unconditional love and always speak kindly. 

Finances

This week we were able to read and reflect Marvin J. Ashton's pamphlet on Finances. We know that finances is important in a marriage. Not the amount of money you have but making sure you are aware of your earnings, spending, and savings. I remember getting into small groups and choosing one of the principles in the pamphlet. Mine was regarding setting a budget and being able to communicate it between the family. I was hardly ever involved in my families finances. I think that being a young child and having discussion on my family's earning could have been beneficial and a time that I could ask questions and see how much we spent towards different needs and wants. I was talking to my husband in how I felt it was important to discuss what we were buying with one another before doing so. My husband made a comment like his mom never discussed those things with his dad. I then asked him what he thought they did they were newlyweds. He had no idea. This was a good time for us to ask our parents but then realize that how our parents did things now is way different than when they were recently married. His parents were at a point where they had savings and needed not to discuss little things that they would be buying at the grocery store. This helped us to create a budget and come to know our needs and wants so that we could be living comfortably.